Eric Metaxas has had a varied career as a biographer, children's author, humorist, talk show host and the creator of Socrates in the City a salon type program which has featured dozens of thinkers in conversation with Metaxas.

Now, America has long been an exceptionally redemptive society. Even if you screw up really badly, if you are willing to reflect long and hard, learn from your mistakes, and demonstrate a commitment to a larger purpose than your own ego, you can emerge on the other side and begin anew.

What may matter more than the new pope's nationality is his commitment to allowing the growth of lay leadership and culturally sensitive worship that is at the heart of the success of the Pentecostal movement.

From Ted Haggard to Eddie Long, American church empires are no strangers to corruption. But while sex scandals are splashed across the headlines, tax code infringements and financial scandals more frequently fly under the radar.

Harold Camping was quoted as saying he's "flabbergasted and stunned" that he and his followers are still on this earth. He has re-calculated and now says the Rapture has been re-scheduled for October 21.

Oral Roberts became one of the best-known televangelists of the twentieth century -- translating pentecostalism from the sweaty tents of the revival circuit to the professionalism of the television studio.